Club career

A product of the famous Athletic de Bilbao's Lezama youth academy, Gurpegui made his first team and La Liga debuts on 31 March 2002, in a 5–2 away defeat against Villarreal CF, going on to establish himself as the first-choice holding midfielder in the following years (121 matches in four seasons). On 17 January 2004, he scored a late equaliser against FC Barcelona, at Camp Nou (1–1).

Gurpegui was banned for two years on November 3, 2003, for testing positive for nandrolone in a September 1, 2002 game against Real Sociedad (2–4 away defeat, scoring both goals) the previous season. The ban was initially suspended Athletic Bilbao, however, neither released the player nor took his number from the official squad, and he returned to action in a 0–3 away loss against Real Madrid, four days later.

In 2008–09, Gurpegui was used mostly as a backup, due to the emergence of youngster (also born in Navarre) Javi Martínez, but regained his...Read More